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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this phototessa berg | Columbus MonthlyE. Gordon Gee, who led Ohio State from 1990 to 1998 and again from 2007 through June, is making time for family and will spend the winter at Harvard University.

He’s renting a two-bedroom condo in the Short North, working out of a borrowed office tucked
amid shops and bars on High Street, and adjusting to a schedule that’s no longer packed with public
appearances.

Another thing that’s been scaled back: the ego that went with being one of the most recognized —
and respected — figures in American higher education.

“I’m learning what it’s like to be on the campus when I’m not in charge,” Gee, 69, told
Columbus Monthly in his first sit-down interview since giving up the presidency of Ohio
State University on July 1.

During a two-hour conversation that touched on topics as disparate as grandchildren, electoral
politics and the pitfalls of a quirky sense of humor, Gee acknowledged that he misses the “daily
fray” of running a major university.

“On the other hand, I’m enjoying more control over my own time,” he said. “In some ways, I feel
like I have a ‘positive midlife crisis’ going on. I was 36 when I became a university president,
and so I missed a number of things that most normal people do.”

Gee, who led Ohio State from 1990 to 1998 and again from 2007 through June, said the decision to
leave “the best job in America” was a long time coming — even though his retirement was announced
less than a month before its effective date.

“I hate long goodbyes,” he said, adding, “I wanted to do it my way.”

Gee will spend the winter at Harvard University, where, as a visiting scholar, he’ll have a
chance to lecture and think about the challenges facing higher education, including skyrocketing
tuition (and student debt) nationwide.

When he returns to Columbus — “I’ll always think of Columbus as my home” — Gee will occupy a
newly renovated office in OSU’s Page Hall. He intends to teach law, starting next fall, and to help
the university in any way he can.

Gee doesn’t plan to play any role in choosing his successor, noting that he’ll get involved “
only if a candidate wants to know what the board was like or if the board wants me to talk to
someone.”

Gee, however, said he hopes to have a great working relationship with whoever gets the job.

“I hope we have a relationship where I can be of support and help as he or she will need — but I
also hope my relationship is one in which they don’t view me as being a pain in the neck.”

In the meantime, Gee is chasing the work-life balance that eluded him during his 33 years as a
university administrator. He’s making time for his five grandchildren, catching up with old friends
and laying the groundwork for several books, including one on humor in higher education.

His biggest “writing” project, however, won’t hit bookstores.

“I have people come and say, ‘We’re so sorry that you left,’ and I tell them, ‘Don’t be sorry
for me’ — because I am writing another chapter of my life, which, in many ways, I think, will be
the most important chapter.”